At the beginning of the 20th century, old-fashioned wells were still the primary source of drinking water in Beijing.
A system of underground pipes to provide drinking water wasn’t even considered until 1907, when a great fire broke out at the Empress Dowager Cixi’s palace. Because of a lack of water, the fire raged and destroyed many valuable items.
Realising that something needed to be done in order to prevent future disasters,the empress hired a group of foreign-educated engineers to lay a series of pipes and build a factory to produce clean drinking water.
In 1910 the Beijing Zhongzhimen Plant was finally ready to supply Beijing’s thirsty residents. There was just one problem: the Chinese population found it hard to trust tap water. The general consensus was that any water kept in underground pipes, and that had not ‘touched sunlight’, couldn’t be healthy.
To solve this problem, the Beijing Tap Water Factory took out print ads across the city reassuring people that any water bought from them was safe, and would actually do less harm than the stuff taken from wells; the move turned out to be a great success.
Today, the plant is a museum dedicated to the story of Beijing’s introduction to tap water. The locals still won’t drink there, though. Barry Griffiths